The Savage Beast
by Crystal Exhibition
Summary: An incident at Phantomhive Manor leaves the butler incapacitated. Can Ciel stave off an attack from a mysterious force while attempting to get Sebastian back in action?
1. Chapter 1

_Hello all. Been a while since I've made my presence known on this site, so let's change that. I just started watching Black Butler (my first Anime series since Sailor Moon when I was 12) and this story popped in my head, and then down on my Netbook. More chapters hopefully coming soon._

_And this goes without saying, but no, I own nothing. And no slash either, so please look elsewhere if you're looking for that._

* * *

It was quiet, too quiet, too silent for too long. Once he forced his eyes open and was able to see again lights swirled, faded, pulsed and glowed. For a moment he hovered in this strange state of confusion; he listened (still only hearing silence), smelled (fire, paper, wood and linens), and felt his way around (he was lying on something soft), searching for a clue to his surroundings, his condition, what form he was in or who he was supposed to be. He thought he could hear a voice, but it sounded distant, too far away for even his ears to make out.

And then there was pain. Not like the usual pain he'd experience with a combination of discomfort and bemusement and then brush off as he got back to business. This was blinding, savage, disorienting, ruthless pain that coursed through his form, setting his nerves, his core, his eyeballs and fingernails and even, seemingly, his hair aflame. He could feel himself jerk and twist in spasms, which only caused more pain as his injured form protested the sudden movement.

He felt a tinge of fear, which only made him angry; suddenly violently angry. He roared like an animal, the very bowels of hell echoing in his cry. He was mindlessly fueled by rage and excruciating pain, and he wanted to rise, to tear through wherever he was and punish those who would humiliate and subjugate him. To kill, to slash, to taste blood. He roared again, his nails stretched into claws which tore into whatever was beneath him, his teeth elongating, and he tried to force his pained form into action.

Suddenly there was weight on top of him, trying to hold him in place, which only caused more pain and made him angrier and he growled in response. But before he could truly react it seemed like the fog cancelling out noise suddenly lifted, and the distant voice cut through the red haze, sounding young, urgent, tense and above all, commanding.

_Sebastian! Sebastian stop this at once! You must be still! I am ordering you to be still, to not move a muscle! Do you hear me? Do not move! Do not make a sound!_

There was no reason he knew of to obey this voice, but his left hand suddenly burned and the name _Sebastian _triggered something in his mind. _Sebastian … human …Phantomhive…butler._ It cut through the confusion, the rage and the agony, and suddenly, he obeyed. He silenced his growls and cries of anger and settled, with great difficulty, back into his fully-human form and on whatever he was lying on. He was still in pain, it still made him spasm to some degree, but he found himself straining to keep himself still.

_Good_. _Very good. _The voice sounded somewhat relieved, but still very tense and masterful. _I know you're in pain, but if you move it will only hurt more. You need to rest now. You will sleep Sebastian. It will help you heal. Look at me when I'm addressing you. Sebastian, look at me._ He struggled to focus his eyes, to look above him, and found a pair of eyes looking down at him, one blue, one violet with a pattern over it that glowed as he spoke. _I order you to_ s_leep Sebastian, deeply, to where the pain can't reach you. Sleep now._

Not of his own accord, for he would have rather torn everyone around him limb from limb, especially whoever was looming over him, his eyes started to fall shut and the darkness he had been adrift in before began to close around him again. "Yes…Master" he whispered through his teeth, not certain why he should draw up the strength to say it but feeling compelled to do so. Soon he grew weak and still as the darkness enveloped him, and the rage, confusion and pain, along with everything else, drifted away to nothing.

* * *

Ciel Phantomhive let out a breath, allowing his head to drop onto Sebastian's chest as relief washed over him. He was straddling his now sleeping butler's waist, having leapt onto him in a likely vain attempt to hold him down and keep him from lunging off the bed in spite of his injuries and begin a rampage through the manor.

When his butler had first stirred, Ciel, who had been sitting nearby and had had some idea of what to expect by then, knew he still couldn't be entirely prepared for this. "Sebastian?" Ciel had called to him. "Can you hear me?" At first Sebastian just seemed muddled, only turning his head somewhat and blinking his eyes against the light. But then the pain seemed to wash over him, and suddenly he was very animated, twisting himself on the bed in agony. Phantomhive had tried to talk sense to him then, but it was no use. He roared, and his demonic form began to show itself in his voice and in his face as his eyes flashed red and his teeth began to stretch in his head.

In a moment of decision that was either very brave or very stupid Ciel had leapt onto him then. He wasn't certain how much strength the demon possessed in his current state, but when he saw Sebastian start to shift into his real form, he knew he had to do something to prevent what would happen next, whatever it was, not to mention that these inhuman sounds would arouse suspicion if anyone heard. Thankfully his words had broken through, and his commands had been followed. He hadn't been entirely certain they would be, but it seemed that even though Sebastian was out of his head, his contract with Ciel could still hold sway over him,

Now that Sebastian was still again, Lord Phantomhive climbed off him, taking care not to aggravate the bandaged wounds around his torso and arms any further. He drew the sheets back over his servant, then threw himself back into the chair beside Sebastian's bed, absently noting the stack of books at his feet and that the fire in the grate was nearly down to coals and would need to be stoked. He picked up another book while he continued his vigil, ensuring that the demon lying before him would remain harmless, human and healing. He suspected it would be a long night.

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_Hope I've caught your attention. We'll see where this takes us. Constructive comments are always welcome. Thanks for reading :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Part two just for you. Hope you like it._

* * *

It was only a few hours ago that the whole unpleasant mess had begun. An intruder dressed all in white and wearing a hood over his face had broken into the Phantomhive manor while everyone was out, and had laid in wait for the young lord to return, striking early in the afternoon when he and his butler were in the main hall.

Of course, Sebastian immediately moved to take care of the problem, but the stranger somehow seemed prepared for an attack by a demon by countering with what Lord Phantomhive recognized as a Seraph Blade; a weapon, according to the lore Phantomhive had read, that was forged by angels and was one of the few objects ever created that had the potential to kill a demon.

"Sebastian! The blade!" Ciel shouted in warning, but too late. Once the blade touched Sebastian's skin he howled in agony, a very inhuman like sound, and collapsed on the floor, which allowed his assailant to take several more lunges with the blade, causing deep gashes and black smoke and blood to spring forth.

For several moments the butler was completely incapacitated. Lord Phatomhive, after sitting stunned and watching the proceedings, made to run but the assailant soon abandoned his merciless attack on Sebastian and caught up quickly to his intended target. Phantomhive attempted to defend himself with his walking stick but was soon overpowered and knocked to the floor, with his attacker looming over him and reading to bring his blade down on him. This stranger likely would have succeeded in his task had his left arm not suddenly detached from his body at that moment.

Though the intruder had known how to best Sebastian in a match, he had not counted on the sheer force of will the butler possessed. Despite his grievous and painful injuries Sebastian had managed to use a serving tray as a discus and thrown it with enough force to sever one of the stranger's arms. The blade dropped to the floor and the intruder used his other hand to try and staunch the bleeding from where his arm used to be. Both he and Lord Phantomhive looked over to see a badly bleeding, slashed Sebastian barely standing but with enough rage and determination in his blazing red eyes to stop a bull in its tracks. The attacker, now completely disarmed in more ways than one, thought better of his plan and decided to turn tail and run, leaping through a nearby window and taking off across the front lawn. Normally Sebastian could have caught him easily, but his injuries made it impossible for him to remain standing now that the imminent danger had passed, and he fell back to the floor, twitching and senseless from pain.

After the shock wore off Lord Phantomhive realized then he had a very unique problem on his hands. The rest of the household staff would return soon, and they would have questions, and there was so much that had occurred that he could not explain to them. Sebastian usually took care of these things, but the young Lord had never dealt with a truly injured demon before. He had seen his butler take several bullets, including to the head, but had spit them all out again within moments. This however, he was not getting back up from, and that concerned Ciel greatly.

Moving quickly, Phantomhive took the seraph blade and hid it in the library. He then took the severed arm and placed it in a bag and then in the ice box, counting on Bardroy not noticing it was there. By the time he was done with all of that the staff had returned. Mey-Rin screamed when she saw Sebastian lying on the floor, covered in blood. Phantomhive took control immediately. He didn't give any details, only saying that an unfortunate accident had taken place, and like good servants they hadn't asked any more questions. Ciel ordered Finnian and Bardroy to carry Sebastian to his room and sent Mey-Rin and Tanaka to fetch bandages and hot water. While the servants set to cleaning and bandaging his numerous wounds, Ciel had gathered every old tome he could from the manor's library, looking for information regarding Seraph blades and who would use them, as a way to prepare for what was coming, for he was quite certain this was not over, especially since his line of defense, his butler, was down.

Once Sebastian had been cleaned and patched up as best as the household staff could manage, and been stitched and administered healing herbs by the real Tanaka, their Lord dismissed them and he settled into a chair beside Sebastian's bed with his stack of books to read. What he read was not comforting. According to what little information he had, a Seraph blade basically had the same effect as a weapon dipped in acidic poison to demons. All the tomes agreed; a Seraph blade, if a demon survived it, would cause wounds that would not heal quickly, debilitating illness, confusion bordering on madness and above all, excruciating pain. This condition could last anywhere from days to weeks depending on the severity of the wounds. There was little to no information on who would have access to these blades, but after watching his butler's outburst Ciel was beginning to wonder whether the real threat would come from outside the manor or from within.

* * *

But all was quiet now. The cats in the room, who had darted off the bed once Sebastian had begun to show his true colors, were tentatively returning, leaping back onto the sheets and positioning themselves beside their caregiver, somehow knowing not to lay on him and harm him further.

A slight rap at the door drew Ciel out of his reverie, and he quickly put his eye patch back on. "Come in" he called, turning his attention back to the pages in front of him.

The door cracked open and Mey-Rin leaned her ginger head into the room. "Excuse me Sir" she squeaked. "I just wanted to stoke the fire for you."

"Yes, do" Phantomhive replied, glancing at her briefly to decide whether or not she had heard anything earlier, and deciding she hadn't went back to his book. He had only just begun to notice the room was going cold.

Quietly, as he kept reading, Mey-Rin slipped into the room, occasionally stealing glances at the butler sleeping nearby. She loaded more wood onto the fire and stoked it until it was burning bright. Then she slipped up behind Phantomhive's chair. "Will there be anything else sir?"

"No, thank you" he replied, again without looking up.

She hesitated, but then asked. "Is Sebastian alright, sir?"

Ciel gave her his full attention then, ready to chastise her for speaking out of turn, but his words stuck in his throat when he saw her face. Even with her glasses he could tell she was genuinely worried as she stared at Sebastian. In spite of himself, Ciel felt sympathetic towards her. "He's healing" he said simply. "But he'll need time."

She nodded. "It's good of you sir, to sit with him. I think he'd appreciate it if he were awake." She curtsied quickly and then left the room.

Lord Phantomhive watched her go, then shook his head and continued reading. Oddly enough, it wasn't until that moment that something occurred to him. The intruder, when he had had his arm severed, had not screamed. Hadn't made a sound, in fact. Not only that, but the amount of blood he lost should have been exponential, certainly enough to keep him from darting across the manor's lawn and making good on his escape. It wasn't much to go on, but it may be an indication as to what had attacked them; Ciel could not imagine anything human not at least making a noise when losing a limb. He picked up another book and kept reading.

* * *

Outside, hiding in the bushes, wearing a black cloak over his white tunic and trousers to keep from being too visible in the darkness, a lone figure kept a close watch on Phantomhive Manor. Only a watch though for now. The time would come to strike again soon enough, and patience is and always has been a virtue.

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_I like a good tease. Hang in there, more coming. Thank you for all the comments so far and thanks for reading._


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3 just for thee. Be warned Sebastian fans, he does not fare well in this chapter, or in the next few, but hang in there._

_Aaaaaaaand go!_

* * *

Though the room had been silent for some time, Sebastian was certainly making noise now. He was groaning in pain, tossing and turning, twisting the sheets around him and lost in whatever haunts a demon's nightmares. Ciel could do nothing but watch for the last few hours over the documents in front of him. While his research had been long and at times beyond frustrating he finally felt he had a working theory on what they were dealing with.

There were several factors to consider. As he had realized before there was the lack of blood or of any scream of pain, but there had been some blood, so that signaled something remotely resembling a human. Also the choice of weapon, which was extremely hard to come by based on what little information he had; the weapon is only mentioned being used either by the heavenly hosts or by certain ancient religious groups with ties to the early church. But the most glaring quality of this new assailant was that he had attacked in broad daylight. Almost nothing Ciel had ever dealt with in his short time as the Queen's guard dog operated during the day; only at night, when it could move in secrecy and shadow, when it could draw its power from darkness. Taking all of this into consideration Lord Phantomhive had his suspicions, but if he was correct it meant that time was short and that plans had to be altered

He hated feeling powerless.

Fidgeting slightly with his fingers and watching his butler, he was now trying to come to a decision on what needed to happen next. It was severely risky, and it would prompt more questions, possibly even reveal his movements to his enemies. Could he chance it?

The fire cast light on Sebastian's face. He was grey, his skin nearly translucent around the long, bandaged gash running from his left temple to his chin, his veins showing in his face, the bones sticking out sharply. His eyes fluttered, his head turned back and forth, his muscles spasmed.

Ciel decided in that moment. Sebastian was suffering horribly, and while Phantomhive knew he deserved some suffering, he couldn't have his most powerful pawn, his protector and his guardian out of commission for much longer, possibly even fading away to nothing right in front of him; not to mention that another outburst by him could be lethal the second time. Besides, and Ciel would only admit this in the deepest recesses of his own mind, he was worried, he could sympathize, and he did care. This thing lying before him would destroy him in the end, but the demon had become…essential to Ciel's world and life.

The young lord stood up and reached for a bell pull to ring for service, but then remembering that he was in Sebastian's room and there was no bell pull but a bell attached to the wall, because Sebastian _is _the service, Phantomhive huffed in annoyance and then opened the door to find, as he suspected, Mey-Rin waiting outside in the corridor. "Send for Finnian and Baldroy immediately. Wake them if you have to." She turned to leave when another thought occurred to him. "And tell them to knock and wait for me to answer, not to come barging in here." She nodded and scurried off.

While he waited the young lord wrote some instructions down on a slip of paper and then paced by Sebastian's bed, going over various scenarios in his mind. While he was still uncertain of what would come of this, he felt that he could chance it without too much potential backlash. And dawn was soon approaching, so he was quickly running out of options.

A knock finally came at the door. Rather than have anyone else see Sebastian in his current condition, Ciel opened the door only far enough for him to pass through and met his servants in the corridor. Finnian and Baldroy stood before him, both slightly disheveled but while Finnian was bleary eyed Baldroy still looked sharp and alert. Ciel knew that though at times he acted to the contrary, Baldroy was not a stupid man, and that he likely suspected something was going on and his instincts as a soldier had kept him from sleeping that night.

"I have a job for you" Lord Phantomhive explained while passing the note to Baldroy. "You will go to London immediately and retrieve these items from a shop called Canton's on Richmond Street in the East End. You will need to arrive there before dawn breaks, or else you will not be able to enter the building, and we need these items tonight."

Both of them looked confused at this, but Baldroy nodded. "Alright Sir. But will the rest of you be alright on your own toni-?"

"We can certainly manage for a couple of hours Baldroy," Ciel interrupted. Yes, Baldroy clearly suspected something else was going on. "Focus on the task at hand, you are quickly running out of time."

The chef was clearly not happy but again he only nodded. "Yes Sir." As he turned to walk away he grabbed Finnian by the collar and pulled him along, as the younger man was still half-asleep and a little slow on the draw.

Before he went back into the butler's room Ciel called Mey-Rin over one last time, who had been lingering in the corridor; "Go and tell Tanaka I will need his services before the night is over." And at that he slipped through the door and closed it behind him.

As he stepped back into the room Sebastian was shaking and speaking in his sleep, but not in any language Ciel had ever heard spoken. After watching him for a moment Ciel moved closer and chanced reaching a hand out to him and placing it on his head, brushing the hair off his face, a gesture he remembered his own mother, Rachel Phantomhive, offering him in times of distress. Rather than react aggressively as the young Lord suspected he would Sebastian instead relaxed somewhat and ceased his frantic raving.

"Be strong Sebastian" Ciel told him, brushing through his hair a second time. "If all goes according to plan after a few more hours your pain will ease." He glanced at the stack of books again, acutely aware of what he now suspected they were dealing with. "I need you to be ready to fight."

* * *

The cloaked intruder watched the carriage leave from his hiding place. He knew a carriage leaving in the dead of night could only be problematic, perhaps even meaning that there will be some impediment to his plans, but still he did not move. When the sun rose high. Only then could he act.

* * *

_I'm certain some of you have your theories, and I'd love to hear them. Thank you for the comments so far and for sticking with me. _


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